Kona - My Personal Paradise
Kona is where I'd rather be!
Located on the Big Island just a short flight from Oahu, it is to us true paradise.
We stay in Kailua-Kona majority of the time, Alii Drive is the main road through the tourist strip, but be careful to choose a hotel in the centre part of town, otherwise it's quite a walk from one end to the other, in fact the whole of Alii Drive to the next suburb would take you over an hour and a half to walk. Trolley buses operate in Aloha time, approximately one every hour - don't worry if it's late it will eventually turn up.
Our pick of hotel is Royal Kona, right in the middle of town, has a famous Mai Tai bar overlooking the ocean, freshwater ocean lagoon and a great restaurant. Our favourite room is oceanfrotn top floor in the Ali Tower. Walking distance to all the restaurants and bars and a trolley stop is not far away either.
Our favourite things to see and do:
- Snorkel - if you have a car drive up Alii Drive to Turtle Beach, just amazing snorkeling straight off the beach
- Night snorkel with Mantas
- Brewery Tour at Kona Brewery
- Shopping at Target, Ross Dress for Less and Kmart, there is also a Macys here but it's not as big as Oahu's
- Grab a car and take a coastal drive
- Huggos on the rocks - sliders and Mai Tais
- Don's Mai Tai Bar - grab a paddle of coladas!
- Lurleens - for the sports enthusiast who likes chilli dogs
- Bubba Gumps - only if you've never been to one, have some shrimp